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In a commentary published in early May in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, a group of doctors at Harvard Medical School highlighted the need to talk to patients about sex during COVID-19. “Given the important role of sexuality in most people’s lives, health care providers… should consider counseling patients on this topic whenever possible,” they write. “Facilitating brief conversations and referrals to relevant resources can help patients maintain sexual wellness amid the pandemic....

Altering genes CRISPR, a relatively easy-to-use gene-editing technique, could provide an escape from ailments that have plagued us for eons. It can slice through DNA, cutting out defective segments and inserting healthier substitutes. Curing individuals of genetic diseases is likely in the near future, but the ethics of alterations before birth are murkier: Unintended side effects of a DNA tweak made to eggs or sperm could ripple through future generations....

What are the Skullcandy Hesh headphones? Skullcandy isn’t new to affordable audio. This is the company behind the unapologetically cheap Dime earbuds (reviewed here), which deliver a way more than acceptable sound for an exceptional sub-$25 price. Selling for almost $200 less than many active noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones—such as the “fancy-a**” Sony WH-1000XM4 (reviewed here)—the Skullcandy Hesh ANC and Evo aim to be an equivalent to the Dime (and its big big brother the Indy ANC) by punching well above their price point....

The primary selling point of the Skullcandy Indy ANC is an affordable pair of true wireless earbuds just as equipped at tuning out the world and turning up a workout’s intensity as they are at delivering the hushed tones of NPR podcasts during a commute. The versatility comes in part from the Skullcandy app, which lets you customize the sound mix at the touch of a button—a feature that rivals some of the best earbuds out there....

A team in Spain examined 4,000 engraved slate plaques that resemble owls, showing two engraved circles for eyes and a body, that date to the Copper Age (between 5,500 and 4,750 years ago). The plaques were found in tombs and pits across Spain and Portugal, and the discovery is outlined in a study published last week in the journal Scientific Reports. “The resemblance of this type of plaques with the owl species present in the region is more than evident,” study co-author Víctor M....

Or so it has always been thought. A paper published today by the Royal Society gives quite a different picture of the lifestyle of three-toed sloths. The authors of the paper looked at how the availability of different tree species, including those of the genus Cecropia, affected the survival and reproduction rates of sloths. Given that these trees are the sloths’ favorite food, this specialist sloth species might be expected to spend most of its time in them....

A lot of us who go West—meaning to the Dakotas and beyond—to chase pheasants and other upland birds find ourselves hunting in some toasty weather. And the toastier the temperature in that part of the world, the more active rattlesnakes are likely to be. This is a relatively minor concern for us who stand on two legs (at least in terms of our personal safety), but it’s a huge one for our dogs, whose exposure is vastly greater than ours....

That should be good for at least a few weeks of memories. But option number two lets you lug around years worth of photos. Sony added a new synch feature to its Picture Motion Browser software that downloads the full-res photos from your camera and sends back low-res versions of those new pics and any others on your computer. With the synch feature, any pics you add to your PC—even photos from other cameras—are transferred to the T700 the next time you dock it....

As CNBC reported earlier this week, details are currently vague regarding Starshield’s full scope, although the venture’s official website explains it “leverages SpaceX’s Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts.” The site also lists three areas of “initial focus,” including imagery, communications, and hosted payloads that will allow government contracts to ostensibly hitch a ride on Starshield rockets for separate projects. Starshield will also offer “inter-satellite laser communications” links that can be joined with partner satellites “so as to connect other companies’ government systems ‘into the Starshield network,’” explains CNBC....

The explosion would have come as a setback during normal flight operations, but for this intentional safety test, events could not have played out more smoothly. “As far as we can tell thus far, it’s a picture-perfect mission,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX’s Chief Engineer and founder, in a press release. “It went as well as one can possibly expect.” Now that the capsule has proven itself capable of handling emergencies both in the air and on the ground, SpaceX expects to launch its first astronauts in the late spring or early summer....

If you like fire and you like eggs, this is the project for you. Simply put, we’re going to toss a few lit matches into an empty glass bottle, plug the top with a peeled hard-boiled egg, and watch mayhem unfold. When you’re done, all (or at least some) of the egg will be in the bottle, thanks to the power of the Earth’s atmosphere. This experiment clocks in at around half an hour, but you’ll spend most of that time preparing the eggs....

First, people with a peanut allergy went through a terrifying food challenge, seeing how much peanut powder they could eat before they had an allergic reaction. After 44 weeks of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), a treatment in which you place a small amount of the allergen under your tongue to decrease sensitivity, they were again asked to eat peanut powder until they had a reaction. During the second challenge, 70 percent of the participants on SLIT could eat 10 times more peanut powder than before....

The Clean Power Plan, introduced last August, set goals for states to cut the amount of carbon emitted from power plants. The EPA directive asked states to come up with their own plans to meet their targets, whether that meant increasing reliance on renewable energy sources like solar and wind, or adding technology to coal-fired plants that could scrub carbon out of smokestack emissions. Initial plans from the states needed to be submitted by September 2016, but states could request an extension of two years to finalize their plans, making their actual due date 2018....

This article was originally published in the Winter 2018 Danger issue of Popular Science.

Scientists affixed fruit flies to the sticky stems of T. occidentalis growing in a bog near Vancouver, and found that the plants absorbed significant amounts of nutrients from the insect prey. This common herb is one of only two carnivorous plants to be identified in the past two decades, and its newfound status suggests that other unrecognized meat-eaters may also be growing near major cities, the team reported on August 9 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences....

Camera settings, lighting, scene modes, and composition can all play a part, as we’ll explain. And when you’ve got your photos looking suitably fantastic, make sure you also take the time to back them up somewhere safe. Adjust focus and exposure Smartphone cameras have come a long way in a short time, and most handsets now give you some control over the focus and exposure of your shot. If manual focus is available, it’s usually activated with a tap on the screen, on the point where you want the camera to focus....

You can check out the latest episode in the player embedded above. You can also subscribe on iTunes, add us on Stitcher, follow on Anchor, or find us wherever quality podcasts live. You should also follow us on Twitter for trash talking purposes. Here’s a look at what you’ll get with this week’s spoiler-free episode. The Techathlon Decathlon As always, we break down the week’s biggest tech news stories into 10 questions that pit our contestants against one another in a cutthroat technology trivia battle....

You can listen in the player embedded above, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, add us on Stitcher, follow us on Anchor, and even find us on Spotify. You can also follow us on Twitter if you want to talk trash. Here’s a look at what else you can expect from this week’s episode. Techathlon Decathlon Regular contestant Rob was down in the maintenance bay during this week’s show, so our pal Sandra stepped in to play along....

These brief TikTok “dorm mead” tutorials instruct users to funnel about a tablespoon of active yeast and a cup of sugar into what appears to be a gallon-sized juice bottle. They then leave the cap slightly loose or attach a balloon to the opening and let the hooch sit for around a week. The process likely succeeds in producing an alcoholic beverage, says John Wilson, a food scientist at Colorado State University, thanks to the molecular interaction between the yeast and sugar within the juice....

Right now, though, children are at home all day, and parents and caretakers may be desperate for ways to keep their little gears turning. So we’ve prepared a full slate of activities to help you out: 10 hands-on science projects you can do with your kids. If you do one a day, that’s almost two weeks of educational fun. Beyond the classic how-to, every experiment will come with an explanation of the scientific principles involved....